


Winter

by FNW2



Category: Slender Man Mythos
Genre: Evil Slenderman, Homosexuality, M/M, Male Homosexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-15 20:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13038480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FNW2/pseuds/FNW2





	Winter

Tyler held Nora in his arms. He and his husband, Eric, just successfully adopted their baby girl no more than a week ago. Tyler hasn't stopped holding her since.

"Ty, it's almost midnight," Eric complained, though he had a smile on his face. "Put Nora in her crib and come to bed, please."

"Just a few more minutes." Tyler Looked over to him with pleading eyes. "She's so tiny...I just want to hold her forever."

"Yeah, well you can start tomorrow." Eric walked over and gently took Nora from Tyler's hands, he then placed her in her crib.

The two looked down at the sleeping infant, they couldn't believe they had made such a huge step in their relationship. Eric put his arm around Tyler's waist and pulled him into a kiss.

"I love you." He said as pulled away from their kiss.

"I love you, to." Tyler looked back down to the sleeping infant, a sad look in his eye.

"Ty...Tyler?" Eric took Tyler's chin and gently turned Tyler to face him. "What's wrong?"

"Just one more minute," Tyler begged for the last time.

"Ty, please." Eric rolled his eyes before taking Tyler's hand and leading him out of the babies room. Before he closed the door, he turned off the bedroom's lights.

* * *

"I still can't believe you two adopted a kid!" Marcus grapped two beers from the fridge and made his way back to his living room. "A freakin' baby no less."

"Be chill about Marcus, please? I already get enough of that at home." Eric took one of beers Marcus handed to him, snapping open the can.

"Tyler that excited?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Eric joked.

"Well, good. I am happy for him, for the both of you."

"Thanks man," Eric said, smiling. "What about you? How have you been?"

"To be honest? Not too good." Marcus put down his beer even though he just opened it.

"Why not," Eric asked, concern in his voice.

"No offense, but you never were the observant type. Were you, Eric," Marcus chuckled.

"What do mean," Eric asked, confused.

"Didn't notice a lack of barking in my house?"

"Lack of bar-Leon!" Eric snapped his fingers when he remembered his friend's dog.

"Yeah, he went missing a week ago." Marcus looked down at floor, solemnly. "I didn't say anything because you and Tyler had just adopted little Nora by the time he disappeared."

"Oh shit," Eric said, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, man. I should've noticed."

"Eric. You just made one of the biggest decisions of your life." Marcus patted his shoulder. "I'm not even close to mad."

"Still," Eric said, putting down his beer, "I still want to help in any way I can. Can you tell me when you discovered he was missing."

"Well," Marcus began, "the night before you and Tyler adopted Nora, Leon started barking angrily at something in the back yard. I don't know what it was, but Leon was determined as hell to get it. So much so he opened the patio door and ran out into the snow. I followed him, but dogs have a good track record of being faster than us. The darkness and snow didn't help."

"Have you considered going to the town library and printing out some missing photos?"

"I was planning to."

"Great! Let's go right now," Eric said, getting up.

"Right now?" Marcus stood up from his seat. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Eric slipped on his jacket. "It's the least I can do, come on! I can tell Tyler I'll be a bit late coming home."

* * *

The town library was a pretty small place, only one story and about the size of an average family house. That said, it was very  helpful place. If you need a book, or in this case, something printed out, this was the place to go.

Marcus parked his car in the building's small lot, Eric and him stepping out before making their was to the library's front door and buzzing themselves in. As Marcus made his way to the computers to print out missing posters, Eric went to the front desk to talk with the librarian.

"Frank," Eric called out, looking over the desk, "you there?"

"Yes." Frank popped his head out from under the desk. "Oh, sorry Eric. I was fixing this computer right here. What do you need?"

"I just came over to ask you if you have seen Leon?"

"Leon?" Frank looked up, stroking his chin. "I'm afraid I haven't. Why? Is everything alright?"

"Afraid not. Apparently, he ran off on Marcus a week ago." Eric looked down to the ground, guilt resurfacing. "He was so focused on celebrating Tyler and I adopting Nora he never got around to looking for him."

"Damn, that's a tragedy," Frank said before perking up. "Congrats on the kid though, I'm sure you and Eric will make great parents."

"Thanks Frank, means a lot," Eric said, perking up as well.

"Yo Frank!" Marcus slammed a huge stack of missing posters on the library desk. "Got anything to carry all these in?"

"Damn, Marcus." Frank looked at the stack, eyes wide. "I know you love your dog more than anything, but the library isn't made of paper and ink!"

"Yeah, sorry." Marcus rubbed the back of his head. "Even I feel I went a bit overboard."

After getting two separate bags to carry posters in, Eric and Marcus agreed to split up and place the missing posters all over town.

* * *

"Honey, I'm home," Eric joked as he entered his home.

"How'd your poster placing go?" Tyler walked in from the kitchen, still carrying Nora, of course.

"Fine," Eric said, lifting up a bag filled with extra missing posters, "Marcus went a tab bit overboard though."

"Just toss those under the bed." Tyler walked over to Eric and handed him Nora before slipping on his jacket. "Nora is out of baby food, I'm heading out to the market."

"Wait, she's out of food already?" Eric raised an eyebrow at Tyler.

"I should've bought more than one pack," Tyler admitted. "I was excited!"

"Well, make sure you buy more than one this time," Eric said.

"I'm sorry, I will." Tyler kissed his cheek and kissed Nora on her forehead. "I'll be back in half-an-hour."

With that, he walked out the door.

* * *

_Two hours later..._

Eric had just put Nora into her crib for the night. His worry not dissipating as he looked at the sleeping infant.

"He's fine Eric," he tried to reassure himself. "It's snowing, maybe he's just taking his time..."

* * *

_Three hours later..._

It was midnight. Eric was sitting in the living room, tapping his knee. Eventually standing up and walking over to the house phone. He dialed in the number and waited impatiently.

"Hello," a groggy voice said on the other line.

"Marcus...I need you to come over and look after Nora," Eric said, immediately.

"Eric," Marcus said. "It's midnight, what's the problem?"

"Tyler has been gone for six hours," Eric voice began to shake. "I-I need to go look for him."

"What?!" Eric heard the sound of shuffling on the other end of the phone. "I'm on my way."

* * *

Marcus got there quickly.

 _Thank God he lives so close,_ Eric thought.

"What's going on?" Marcus asked the second he walked in.

"He left to get baby food," Eric answered. "I'm going to look for him. Nora is asleep in her room. If I don't find him...I'm calling the police."

"Take my car." Marcus tossed him his keys. "I know you two don't have another car."

"Thanks." Eric ran out of his house, towards Marcus' car.

It was snowing outside, but it was a light snowfall. Which means he can still see the tracks left by Tyler as he pulled out of the driveway hours ago.

* * *

The drive was quite, Eric drove slowly in order to follow the tire tracks down the dark street.

It took him twenty agonizing minutes to find what he didn't want to...

Eric's face turned pale when he saw the tracks rear off the street...leading to their destroyed car. It had hit a tree, the hood almost completely rapped around it.

"No..." Eric burst from the car, making a B-line straight for the destroyed vehicle.

He circled around it, praying not to see Tyler's corpse flung through the windshield...what he did see was worse.

The driver door had been torn off its hinges and tossed to the side. It couldn't have been from the crash, as it was tossed behind the car. However, that isn't what made Eric lose it, what made him lose it was the drag marks that lead to the car into the large, expansive woods.

Without thinking, he followed them, screaming Tyler's name as he desperately searched for the love of his life. He followed the drag marks all the way to a tree, where they ended. Frantic, Eric searched the whole area, but found nothing. Losing hope, he returned to the tree and saw something, words carved into the bark.

"Look up," Eric said, confused.

He hesitantly did so...he wished he didn't. What he saw destroyed his whole world millions of times over.

Tyler...he was impaled one the lowest branch of the tree. His body had been completely hollowed out, no blood was dripping from his body. His face was stuck in a look of pain and horror.

"T-Tyler..." Eric fell to his knees. "Oh, God...please no."

 _This can't be happening,_ Eric thought. _This is a nightmare. I'm at home asleep, I'm going to wake up with Tyler next to me or making breakfast for Nora and I._

Suddenly, Eric heard the loud creaking of branches. He looked up to see them bending and shifting on the tree Tyler was attached to. Then words carved themselves into the snow at the base of the tree.

_Sorry, no nightmares here._

Then he saw it...the thing that took Tyler from him. It almost, walked out of the tree, it's body shifting and moving unnaturally as the branches revealed themselves to nothing more than limbs protruding from its back.

The creature looked towards Eric, or he thought it did, its lack of facial features left its actions unclear.

"You...you did this didn't you?!" Eric rose to his feet, sadness quickly turning into unbridled rage. "Why? What the fuck did he do to you?!"

The creature tilted its head before pointing to the ground. Eric looked to see more words being created in the snow, like an invisible stick was spelling them out.

_I'll answer your question, with another question._

Eric then felt a horrible pain in his wrist, he lifted his sleeve to see letters being carved into his skin. His eyes widened when he saw the two words.

_Why not?_

Eric looked up to the creature, it gave him a casual wave as it faded from existence. Right before it disappeared, it left him one last message.

_You may want to check the tree to your left._

After that, it vanished completely.

Eric hesitantly looked up to the tree the creature recommended, and saw Leon. The poor dog was in the exact same state as Tyler. He saw more words carved into the tree.

_This is how it starts._


End file.
